In a game that was quite frankly more embarrassing than entertaining, the Riverheads Gladiators held off an inspired effort by Waynesboro tonight 35-27 to clinch a winning season at 5-3 in the Shenandoah District and 6-4 overall. However, based on some reliable sources, most notably the post from Gunz that he rushed out to us ASAP, it appears that the Big Red got the help needed from other games to clinch the number three seed for next week's Region 1-B playoffs. They will now host the number six seed Brunswick and the number four seed Luray, which was number three entering tonight, will now host number five seed Buffalo Gap.
As for tonight's game in Greenville, to say it was strange would be an understatement. Fans would mostly choose to blame it on the referees and it is for sure that the flags did fly tonight. If I had to guess I would say the total number of penalties was in the 20s and I would not be surprised if it approached 30. But anyone who watched this game with an open mind would have to admit that the teams were equally at fault, if not more so. Both squads were undisciplined, which of course is always the cause for a large number of penalties, and at times the game resembled a first game of the season, not a last one.
The Little Giants clearly came to play and to convince us that they were not satisfied with their three wins this season after a couple of basement-dwelling years. So even though they finished 3-7 and will not be advancing to any playoff action, they will clearly be a team to watch next season, and will most likely climb several spots up the ladder. All four of their touchdowns were highlight-reel caliber, including a 65 yard fumble return in which the guy must have broken 8 tackles, and a 50 yard pooch kick for a touchdown. They spent the entire night knocking on the door and even as the game wound down, they had made it in to RHS territory and were one big play away from a possible tying touchdown.
However, for them to have given up 35 points, obviously they had some defensive lapses and that is where the play of Jackson Fitzgerald came in. He scored three touchdowns tonight, one on an electrifying 85 yard kickoff return to open the second half that gave the Big Red its first two-TD lead. Later he scored what could be considered the "winning" touchdown when he took a screen pass from Kendal Edwards and swung to the far left side of the field, where he had one man to beat. He put just the right move on that guy and took it in for the score. Skyler Shiflett's second two-point conversion of the game put the Gladiators ahead 35-20 and some fans started to relax.
But on the very next play, the aforementioned pooch kick was very poorly covered by the Gladiators and once again the Little Giant player who fielded it was able to break a number of tackles and take it in for the score. The Giants elected to go for the single-point to make it 35-27, but as they would say on the tube "it was a one-score game."
It appeared that Riverheads was going to score again to finally settle the issue but instead the drive fizzled inside the 10. The Gladiators made the right decision and brought in the kicker to try a field goal. If successful, they would have been ahead by 11 with under two minutes left in the game. However, he missed the field goal badly, which gave the ball to the Giants on their own 20.
On their very first play, they hit a deep pass that carried into Riverheads territory. However, due to nerves and a lack of timeouts, they were not able to produce another big play and Riverheads held on for the win.
As for the officiating and the whose to blame question, the tone was set very early in the game. Waynesboro had taken the opening kickoff and moved into RHS territory. However one of the 10 seniors celebrating tonight, Jayden Dotson, intercepted a pass and returned out to near midfield.
Since the action was on the Little Giant side of the field, it was unclear to Gladiator fans what happened during or after that play, but suddenly the officials marched off not one but two major penalties against Riverheads, and their drive started at their 22 instead of out near midfield. To their credit, they played Riverheads football on that drive and took six minutes off the clock before another senior, fullback Mason Flint, scored from the one for a 7-0 lead.
However, Waynesboro answered that score with one of their own, helped along by a PI call on Riverheads. In fact by the time the first quarter ended, the teams had combined for five major penalties and the fans were already squawking at the refs.
Riverheads scored another one-yard TD run, this one by senior Preston McCauley, but the PAT failed, leaving the home team clinging to a 13-7 lead. That gave the Giants a chance to take the lead and they did exactly that on a pass play down the far sideline that seemed to also feature some lackluster tackling on the part of the Big Red.
At that point, the juniors took over for the Big Red, with Fitzgerald scoring his three TDs and Shiflett adding his two conversion runs. Fitzgerald scored first from about 20 yards out to put RHS up 19-14. Waynesboro then botched a punt snap which gave Riverheads a golden opportunity to take a two-score lead into the locker room. But they fumbled a center exchange inside the 10 to leave the halftime score at 19-14.
When Fitzgerald opened the second half with his kickoff return, it looked as if that might take the wind out of the sails of the visitors and allow the Gladiators to put the game away. Instead, with Riverheads ahead 27-14, and still in the third, quarterback Edwards appeared to go back to pass or maybe it was a broken play, but whatever happened, an alert Little Giant picked it up and started back upfield. The Gladiators had multiple chances to bring him down but he zigged and zagged and spun his way out of every would be tackle to bring the Giants to within 27-20.
Fourth quarter action featured the Fitzgerald screen pass, followed by the pooch kick return for a TD. Then after another lengthy possession, the failed field goal gave the visitors one final chance. They were unable to convert and the Big Red held on.
As for the flags, that parade never really stopped, although the majority of them in the second half were for offsides, false starts, etc. I only remember one major one, a late hit out of bounds on Waynesboro that was a no-brainer.
To summarize, hats off to Waynesboro for coming to play tonight and they should be very proud of the strides they made this season. Depending on how many returnees they have next year, they will cause headaches for many teams.
For Riverheads, the goals were met tonight, even if they were not that smoothly achieved. So they will advance to the playoffs as the three seed. But Coach Norcross is a tell-it-like-it-is guy, so I cannot imagine him trying to deny how sloppy tonight's game was. So if the Gladiators are to advance very far, they will have to have some serious talks about playing under control, avoiding mistakes, tackling better, etc.
The Gladiators are a much better team than they showed tonight, case in point the 35-0 shutout over Fort Defiance and the near upset of Alleghany. A win is a win and we will take it, but the Big Red will have to have those two teams show up, not the one we saw tonight. They gave the Little Giants far too many chances to leave town with a win and a lot of things need to be cleaned up.
Meanwhile, Wilson won the big showdown in Fishersville tonight and in a mild shocker, Staunton went up to Fort Defiance and brought home a win to salvage a disappointing season. I will be back this upcoming week with playoff projections for the six Shenandoah teams that will be advancing.
As for tonight's game in Greenville, to say it was strange would be an understatement. Fans would mostly choose to blame it on the referees and it is for sure that the flags did fly tonight. If I had to guess I would say the total number of penalties was in the 20s and I would not be surprised if it approached 30. But anyone who watched this game with an open mind would have to admit that the teams were equally at fault, if not more so. Both squads were undisciplined, which of course is always the cause for a large number of penalties, and at times the game resembled a first game of the season, not a last one.
The Little Giants clearly came to play and to convince us that they were not satisfied with their three wins this season after a couple of basement-dwelling years. So even though they finished 3-7 and will not be advancing to any playoff action, they will clearly be a team to watch next season, and will most likely climb several spots up the ladder. All four of their touchdowns were highlight-reel caliber, including a 65 yard fumble return in which the guy must have broken 8 tackles, and a 50 yard pooch kick for a touchdown. They spent the entire night knocking on the door and even as the game wound down, they had made it in to RHS territory and were one big play away from a possible tying touchdown.
However, for them to have given up 35 points, obviously they had some defensive lapses and that is where the play of Jackson Fitzgerald came in. He scored three touchdowns tonight, one on an electrifying 85 yard kickoff return to open the second half that gave the Big Red its first two-TD lead. Later he scored what could be considered the "winning" touchdown when he took a screen pass from Kendal Edwards and swung to the far left side of the field, where he had one man to beat. He put just the right move on that guy and took it in for the score. Skyler Shiflett's second two-point conversion of the game put the Gladiators ahead 35-20 and some fans started to relax.
But on the very next play, the aforementioned pooch kick was very poorly covered by the Gladiators and once again the Little Giant player who fielded it was able to break a number of tackles and take it in for the score. The Giants elected to go for the single-point to make it 35-27, but as they would say on the tube "it was a one-score game."
It appeared that Riverheads was going to score again to finally settle the issue but instead the drive fizzled inside the 10. The Gladiators made the right decision and brought in the kicker to try a field goal. If successful, they would have been ahead by 11 with under two minutes left in the game. However, he missed the field goal badly, which gave the ball to the Giants on their own 20.
On their very first play, they hit a deep pass that carried into Riverheads territory. However, due to nerves and a lack of timeouts, they were not able to produce another big play and Riverheads held on for the win.
As for the officiating and the whose to blame question, the tone was set very early in the game. Waynesboro had taken the opening kickoff and moved into RHS territory. However one of the 10 seniors celebrating tonight, Jayden Dotson, intercepted a pass and returned out to near midfield.
Since the action was on the Little Giant side of the field, it was unclear to Gladiator fans what happened during or after that play, but suddenly the officials marched off not one but two major penalties against Riverheads, and their drive started at their 22 instead of out near midfield. To their credit, they played Riverheads football on that drive and took six minutes off the clock before another senior, fullback Mason Flint, scored from the one for a 7-0 lead.
However, Waynesboro answered that score with one of their own, helped along by a PI call on Riverheads. In fact by the time the first quarter ended, the teams had combined for five major penalties and the fans were already squawking at the refs.
Riverheads scored another one-yard TD run, this one by senior Preston McCauley, but the PAT failed, leaving the home team clinging to a 13-7 lead. That gave the Giants a chance to take the lead and they did exactly that on a pass play down the far sideline that seemed to also feature some lackluster tackling on the part of the Big Red.
At that point, the juniors took over for the Big Red, with Fitzgerald scoring his three TDs and Shiflett adding his two conversion runs. Fitzgerald scored first from about 20 yards out to put RHS up 19-14. Waynesboro then botched a punt snap which gave Riverheads a golden opportunity to take a two-score lead into the locker room. But they fumbled a center exchange inside the 10 to leave the halftime score at 19-14.
When Fitzgerald opened the second half with his kickoff return, it looked as if that might take the wind out of the sails of the visitors and allow the Gladiators to put the game away. Instead, with Riverheads ahead 27-14, and still in the third, quarterback Edwards appeared to go back to pass or maybe it was a broken play, but whatever happened, an alert Little Giant picked it up and started back upfield. The Gladiators had multiple chances to bring him down but he zigged and zagged and spun his way out of every would be tackle to bring the Giants to within 27-20.
Fourth quarter action featured the Fitzgerald screen pass, followed by the pooch kick return for a TD. Then after another lengthy possession, the failed field goal gave the visitors one final chance. They were unable to convert and the Big Red held on.
As for the flags, that parade never really stopped, although the majority of them in the second half were for offsides, false starts, etc. I only remember one major one, a late hit out of bounds on Waynesboro that was a no-brainer.
To summarize, hats off to Waynesboro for coming to play tonight and they should be very proud of the strides they made this season. Depending on how many returnees they have next year, they will cause headaches for many teams.
For Riverheads, the goals were met tonight, even if they were not that smoothly achieved. So they will advance to the playoffs as the three seed. But Coach Norcross is a tell-it-like-it-is guy, so I cannot imagine him trying to deny how sloppy tonight's game was. So if the Gladiators are to advance very far, they will have to have some serious talks about playing under control, avoiding mistakes, tackling better, etc.
The Gladiators are a much better team than they showed tonight, case in point the 35-0 shutout over Fort Defiance and the near upset of Alleghany. A win is a win and we will take it, but the Big Red will have to have those two teams show up, not the one we saw tonight. They gave the Little Giants far too many chances to leave town with a win and a lot of things need to be cleaned up.
Meanwhile, Wilson won the big showdown in Fishersville tonight and in a mild shocker, Staunton went up to Fort Defiance and brought home a win to salvage a disappointing season. I will be back this upcoming week with playoff projections for the six Shenandoah teams that will be advancing.